It Only Seems Bears Joined a Cult

The Matt Eberflus' HITS principle is about measuring effort but the changes it is producing have been drastic for the Bears.

Looking in from a distance, it's easy to see how someone might believe the Bears have joined a cult.

Coach Matt Eberflus doesn't have them all drinking strange Kool-Aid or anything of the sort. Rather, they're getting in the best shape of their lives while believing in a system designed to create takeaways on defense and big plays without mistakes on offense.

Eberflus' HITS system stands for hustle, intensity, takeaways or taking care of the ball and smart play. It's something Eberflus has talked about since coming to Chicago and people might be getting tired of hearing about it, but talk to the players and they'll tell you people haven't even begun to hear about it.

That's because the players are just now starting to see some results from it, and once it's applied in the regular season and there is any amount of success, they'll all be singing its praises even louder.

"I mean that’s all we really preach," cornerback Jaylon Johnson said. "That’s all we really talk about, is the HITS principle. Really just, really trying our best to perform that and make that natural, make that a habit."

When Eberflus so quickly converted cornerback Johnson to his way of thinking, he had to know the battle was half won. Johnson is about as independent or a thinker as they have on the defense and admitted this week he was hard sell but now is a believer.

"Oh, 100%. 100%," Johnson said. "Because I mean that's something that wasn't here at first, and now it's being demanded each and every day, no matter what we're doing. During walk-throughs, jog-throughs, full speed pads, no pads.

"Regardless of what we're going through, it's always about the HITS principle. So we're improving on that each and every day, each and every week."

Success on the field can't be measured at this point with no games played, but Johnson has another way to be certain.

"I mean it definitely made me more in shape, all the running that we're doing, for sure," Johnson said. "So my endurance is more advanced than it was in and previous years."

Players must be hustling at the end of plays, running with intensity and hustling back to the huddle. In practice it's the same way.  It's not like players are sent to run windsprints all the time to be in better shape. When the system is applied throroughly at practice, the extra running they do on plays and between them naturally means players being in better shape.

Rude Awakening for Bears Vets

It's naturally tough to convince veteran players. It helped Eberflus having former Indianapolis Colts players like Al-Quadin Muhammad on board to let people know all the extra running done in practice and extra coaching scrutiny can work.

"Some of the guys came to me and were like, 'Do we really practice like that every day?' And I was like, 'Yeah.'

"As you continue to do it and just practice the way we practice, you get used to it. It becomes a simultaneous reaction."

The coaches used film to let players know how they wanted play to look on the field, so it wasn't as if this was just sprung on them once they hit the practice field.

"In meetings we talk about it, we do it, so coaches show examples of what it looks like when it's great and what it looks like when it's not so good," Muhammad said. "We do this every day so you'll be able to evaluate yourself and know if that's the standard or not."

Eberflus was asked if he came up with the name or had help.

"Yeah, sure, I'm pretty creative, I don’t know," he said to media laughter. "I would say it was, yeah, I just came up with it."

In the Beginning There Was Rod Marinelli

It all started in Dallas when Eberflus was working under Rod Marinelli as linebackers coach in 2014. He had been there since 2011 before Marinelli became defensive coordinator.

"The impact that he had on me, because I would look at his drills and how he did his thing with the defensive line, because he was the defensive coordinator and coaching the defensive line at the time," Eberflus said, explaining why it even came about. "I said, 'Well, shoot, this guy is a master coach. I'm going to try to be as good as him and do it his way.'

"Then, I was like, 'I'm going to come up with something that I can measure, so I can give immediate feedback to the players. So everything is measured, every play, every detail.' "

Coaches are trying to measure each of those four aspects of HITS. They do it only in games, though. They're trying to keep "loafs," to a minimum and do that the old-fashioned way in practice—with their eyes and by hollering.

"When I talk about the intensity part of it, well, I started measuring the last 3 yards," Eberflus said. "From player tackling to player hitting the ball, I wanted to measure those last 3 yards. I wanted to see an acceleration to and through, and then I wanted to see a hamstring tackle after that. So that's one way we would measure it."

A few Bears players have said over the course of preseason that they were shocked when they saw the number of loafs they've been given on plays when they thought they were moving quickly.

"The 'loaf' system has been around since the Bucs (of Tony Dungy), the detail of that," Eberflus said. "So I wanted to do that with the hustle and intensity part of it. Then, the strip attempts. Are you really stripping it every play? Not just sticking your hand out there to appease me, but are you really going after it?"

They've applied it to offense, defense and special teams, where in the beginning it was a defensive thing.

"What you'll see is that when you do it offense, defense, and kicking, your team will understand the exact standards because everything is on the table," Eberflus said. "You don't hide anything."

No Exceptions

There is no let-up because a game is decided or something that may have happened on the field away from the ball.

"It's like, 'Oh, the guy didn't make a strip attempt,' " Eberflus said. " 'We'll let that go.' No, we're not going to let that go. You have to get a strip attempt there. This is how you're going to do it.'

"The players have bought into it and we'll see where the buy-in is. We got to see it. We're only as good as our last performance. We'll see what we do this performance."

If it's not enforced every play, they might as well trash the system.

"If you don't and you let it go by and let it creep in, your team is not going to look the right way," Eberflus said.

The Results

The Bears have had one interception from a cornerback each of the last two seasons.

They had 27 interceptions in 2018 and 28 for the next three seasons combined, so they should be willing to put up with some extra running if they want to get the ball back for the offense.

As for the other side of the ball, anything different than Matt Nagy's approach would have sufficed but it's been refreshing in preseason for the Bears not to be committing so many penalties. The Colts were always among the least penalized teams when Eberflus was there.

Until Bopete Keyes was slapped with an extremely questionable 28-yard pass interference penalty in the fourth quarter against Seattle last week, the Bears had two penalties for 10 yards. They still looked entirely disciplined compared to the Seahawks' 13 penalties for 92 yards. First preseason games are usually flag-filled fun fests as players and officials adjust to being around each other on a gridiron again but the Bears had just five for 32 yards in that one.

If coaches were preaching this and practicing something different, it might not work.

"Flus has not been late to a meeting," safety Eddie Jackson said. "You know, he's always on time. So just holding everyone to that accountability, and just letting his action match his words. And I feel like that's the big thing."

The end result sounds like Jackson is talking about 2018 all over again.

"You see us just flying around, running to the ball, being on top of the keys, the hustle and you just see those things start to translate," Jackson said. "You get close to the ball you might tip it, might fumble, it might pop out, even at punching at the ball.

"Then you go into the game. And you see the same thing that you do in practice starting to translate. So it makes it easier."

After 6-11 last year, harder is easier to do if it makes things easier in the end.

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